Los Angeles Times:
Covered California Premiums Will Rise 12.5%, And Anthem Blue Cross Cuts Coverage
Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said that increases in the cost of providing care were responsible for about 7 percentage points of the state’s 12.5% average rate increase. Another 3 percentage points, he said, reflected a one-time tax adjustment. But another 3 points, he said, accounts for insurers’ overall unease with the ongoing debate over scrapping, or massively modifying, the Affordable Care Act. In negotiating with insurance companies this spring, Covered California put together a kind of hold-harmless agreement. That agreement, which Covered California will take to its board this month, essentially agrees to let health insurers make up losses from unexpected changes to the insurance market that may be caused this year or next by unexpected changes in the basic fundamentals of the Obamacare market. (Karlamangla, 8/1)

Sacramento Bee:
Covered California Announces Insurance Premium Hikes, Possible Surcharge In 2018
“Covered California remains robust and strong, and we are pleased to welcome back all 11 plans to compete in regions across the state,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee. “While there is ongoing uncertainty and a lack of clarity at the federal level, consumers who need affordable health insurance will continue to have good choices in Covered California next year.” (Anderson, 8/1)

Bloomberg:
Obamacare Premium Hikes Could Double In California If Trump Ends Subsidies
Insurers requested a 12.5 percent rate increase on average for 2018 Obamacare plans, the state’s Covered California exchange said in a statement Tuesday. Trump, however, has threatened to stop paying what are known as cost-sharing-reduction subsidies -- which insurers get to help lower-income people afford to use their plans. If that happens, insurers would increase rates by another 12.4 percent on mid-level plans, the state said. “We prepared these rates in the midst of great uncertainty,” Peter Lee, Covered California’s executive director, said on a conference call with reporters. “The federal administration has not committed to continuing these payments.” (Tracer, 8/1)

California Healthline:
Covered California Expects 12.5% Average Rate Rise In 2018
That increase would apply only to silver-level plans, the second-least-expensive among the exchange’s four tiers of coverage. That’s because only people enrolled in silver plans can benefit from the so-called cost-sharing subsidies that Trump may end. Lee said the exchange hopes not to tack on the surcharge because “it will cause unnecessary confusion and ultimately cost the federal government billions of dollars more than they would have spent by making the [subsidy] payments directly to health plans.” (Bazar and Gorman, 8/2)

Fresno Bee:
Health Costs Rise In Valley
Amid turbulence over the future of federal health-care reform, consumers buying insurance in Tulare, Mariposa and Merced counties will see a rate increase for monthly premiums of 24 percent on average in 2018 – nearly twice the statewide hike. In Fresno, Kings and Madera counties, the rate increase is much lower – 4.7 percent – but about 30 percent of consumers will have to find a new plan since Anthem Blue Cross will not be offering coverage in those counties next year. (Anderson, 8/1)

Orange County Register:
Here’s What You Need To Know As Covered California Rates Go Up In 2018
Covered California on Tuesday said insurance rates will jump an average of 12.5 percent for next year, driven in part by uncertainty about the future of Obamacare. Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, described 3 percent of premium increases as an “uncertainty surcharge,” fueled by the unclear future of the Affordable Care Act. Uncertainty about the law also will prompt a big private insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, to stop selling Covered California plans in Southern California. (Perkes, 8/1)

Reuters:
Anthem To Cut Back Obamacare Plan Offerings In California
U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc is pulling back from 16 of 19 pricing regions in California where it offered Obamacare options this year, state officials said on Tuesday. The move, which takes effect for 2018, means Anthem will offer Obamacare coverage in three pricing regions comprising 28 counties in California. (Erman and Berkrot, 8/1)